


One Beloved Lure to Loving

by cassiopeiasara



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: Accidental Marriage, Alternate Universe, F/F, Fluff, Hackle Summer Trope Challenge 2020, References to Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Sculptor!Hecate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:01:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25061293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassiopeiasara/pseuds/cassiopeiasara
Summary: Rejected by yet another lover, Hecate channels all of her longing into a new sculpture. She never plans for it to come to life.
Relationships: Ada Cackle/Hecate Hardbroom
Comments: 24
Kudos: 53
Collections: The Hackle Summer Trope Challenge





	One Beloved Lure to Loving

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FlamingToads](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlamingToads/gifts).



> A/N: One time Toad was vaguely inspired by Pygmalion for an idea, she told me about it and from that this fic was born. Please forgive any inaccuracies to Greek myth, this was inspired in the loosest sense. Thank you to rikubean and thosetigerseyes for looking this over. Toad, I hope you like this and know this is only part one of my revenge. ;). Title is from Sappho's "Ode to Aphrodite" because of course it is.

“Perhaps one day you’ll learn to love something as much as you do your art,” muttered Antigone as she stormed away from the entrance of Hecate’s cottage. 

Hecate sighed against the doorway. Perhaps she was meant to live alone. There was enough work to keep her occupied and Morgana was never too far to reassure her of her presence. Speaking of, a soft purr sounded at her ankles. Hecate nodded and slipped back inside. No time for heartbreak. 

She gave Morgana a treat or two then moved back into her studio. It wasn’t until she was halfway through a bust commissioned by Circe that she realized her cheeks were wet. She shook her head but the tears kept coming along with the weight of her disappointment. 

She put down her tools and went to make some tea. 

* * *

Hecate waited until her work was done before she approached the block of concrete. Dimity had delivered it in the afternoon explaining that the nearby temple had no use for it. 

If Hecate were sensible, she’d just wait until her next commission but perhaps sensibility didn’t always have a place. It had been a while since she’d indulged in a passion project and technically these materials were extraneous. She tapped the side with her scraper and thought a bit. 

She could sculpt something for her garden. A bench wouldn’t go amiss or a statue to the goddesses. Athena had never seemed to abandon her and the local worshipping community might appreciate Artemis. 

_What is it you want?_

Hecate stepped back from the stone. The voice had not been her own and was spoken with such gentleness it was startling. She looked around to ensure she was truly alone. She sighed. Her long days were getting to her. 

She set her tools aside. The project could wait. 

* * *

That night she dreamt of a woman whose eyes were as crystal blue as the sea and whose laugh was the most musical sound Hecate had ever heard. She took Hecate’s hand with a softer touch than Hecate had ever known and pulled her along to the beach near the cottage. 

When they reached the shoreline, the woman gently released Hecate’s hand and slid her arm around Hecate’s waist. “Isn’t it gorgeous, dear?”

* * *

The next day saw the completion of Hecate’s commission. Circe thanked her profusely and gave her much more than Hecate’s asking price. It would be enough for a holiday if Hecate ever partook in such things. There were still a few days left before she could go to the market for supplies so she set the money aside and grabbed a shawl to walk along the sea. 

It wasn’t long before she thought of the woman in her dream. It had been so brief that she didn’t get a good look at what the woman was wearing or any detail besides her eyes and the firm but soft grip of her hand. Hecate sighed. Of course such a woman only existed in a dream. 

_What is it you want?_

Hecate stopped short by the rocks she usually rested on. It was the voice from the day before. Only this time it was more recognizable as it sounded incredibly similar to the woman from her dream. Hecate shook her head. She wanted for nothing really. She had shelter and Morgana. She even had—

“Auntie!”

Hecate turned to see Azura running for her. Her smile was as brilliant as usual and her bright green dress whipped around her from the sea breeze while her curls bounced as she ran. 

Hecate uncrossed her arms and braced herself for the force of Azura’s hug. She didn’t hug her back but she allowed Azura’s embrace and it was enough for her niece. Eager brown eyes looked up at her. 

“Mummy has a new tale!”

Hecate tilted her head. “Does she?”

Azura nodded vigorously and moved to take Hecate’s hand. “Yes, come and hear it.”

Hecate didn’t move. “What if I am busy?”

Azura shook her head. “You’re never too busy for us.”

Hecate rolled her eyes and let her niece pull her back up to her cottage. Indigo was sitting in the front room with her lyre and some parchment. She winked at Hecate. “You’ll like this one.”

Hecate shrugged as she prepared tea. “We shall see.”

When the tea was ready, Hecate asked Azura to carry the tray into the room and she settled with her amongst pillows and blankets to hear Indigo sing. Indigo was right. Hecate did enjoy the tale though it was sad. 

Some poor woman called Ada, mistaken for her sister Agatha, had suffered a terrible fatal punishment for crimes against a group of witches. Aphrodite had taken such pity on her that instead of enduring eternity in Acheron, she had set Ada among the clouds helping to find humans deserving of Aphrodite’s blessing. 

Azura furrowed her brow. “Did Ada ever get to be in love?”

Indigo shrugged. “It doesn’t say.”

“I do not think that is the point, Azura,” offered Hecate. 

Azura tilted her head, her eyes wide as if Hecate’s reminder could not be more ridiculous. “I know that. I just think it’s sad she’s up there watching all of us but she never gets to be loved.”

Indigo finished her tea and sat her parchment on Hecate’s table. “I’ll trade you for my next one when we circle round again.”

Hecate nodded as her side was enveloped by a small pair of arms. 

“Do we have to go?”

Hecate patted Azura’s head as Indigo gently took her arm. Hecate gave her a small smile. “Two months is not such a long time between visits.”

Azura pouted but let her mother lift her up. Hecate stood as they reached the door. Azura suddenly turned and pulled something from the small bag strung across her waist. “For your next sculpture.”

Hecate took the round spectacles and nodded. “Safe travels.” She pulled a small pouch from a corner of the door panel and handed it to Indigo. “This should last you.”

Indigo’s eyes widened. “You don’t have to--”

Hecate shook her head. “Make sure the next tale is just as good.”

Indigo nodded and off they went. The sun was low in the sky and Hecate wondered if she should just call it a day. She set the spectacles atop the parchment and moved into her bedroom. It wasn’t long before her eyes slipped shut and sleep found her.

* * *

She dreamt of the woman again only this time Hecate had walked alone to the shore. The woman wore the spectacles Indigo had given Hecate. They reflected the soft moonlight and framed the woman’s face well. She smiled sadly at Hecate. 

“Hello,” she greeted. 

Hecate nodded. “Hello.”

The woman bit her lip as she considered Hecate. “Are you disappointed in me?”

Hecate furrowed her brow. “Why would I be?”

“I didn’t fight back when they took me. I hoped she’d come and tell them they had the wrong woman but she never came.” 

Hecate shook her head. “I’m sorry, I am confused.”

The woman gave a humorless chuckle. “Deities aren’t much for clarity. I had to call in every bit of favor to visit you to begin with.”

Hecate tilted her head. “Why would you want to visit me?”

The woman hopped down from the rock and took Hecate's hand in the same gentle way she had the night before. “I am a good judge of character and I think… I hope you’ll learn to like me.”

Hecate had no idea why her heart flooded with warmth all of the sudden but there was something about the presence of this woman that gave her more calm than she’d ever known in her life. 

She lightly squeezed the woman’s hand. “What is your name?”

The woman chuckled and her eyes danced in such a way that Hecate’s stomach filled with butterflies. “And here I thought Athena had blessed you with an abundance of intelligence.”

Hecate scoffed. There was no need to insult her. She moved to pull her hand when the woman ran her thumb over Hecate’s knuckles. 

She offered a gentle smile. “I was only teasing, dear. If you don’t know it by now, you will in time.”

Hecate opened her mouth to say something else but the woman slipped away again. 

* * *

Hecate circled the block of concrete in the morning and tapped it again. It didn’t speak in the first hour she looked at it but Hecate considered the question she had been asked. She thought of Antigone leaving only a few days before and every other woman who had deemed her too withholding. 

“Someone to understand,” she whispered. “Someone to love.” She sighed and shook her head. Indigo and Azura’s visit had left her ridiculously sentimental. 

_Then carve her._

Hecate jumped. She wondered if the goddess who shared her name was playing tricks on her. She bit her lip. She had never ventured to produce a project so self indulgent. 

_Perhaps it’s time._

She jumped again and set her tool down. She needed some distance or a cleansing or her head examined. Morgana slipped into her studio, carrying something between her teeth. Hecate bent down to pull the spectacles Azura had gifted her from Morgana’s mouth. She thought to the woman she’d seen and Indigo’s tale. The description of Ada in the tale had only mentioned her eyes. _Crystalline blue_. Like the woman from her dreams. 

Hecate shook her head. Maybe the woman’s image would leave her if she carved her. She lifted her hands and started to work.

* * *

Hecate had never felt the urge to speak much while working. It was enough to move, mold, and focus but as soon as her sculpture had a face, she felt the need to speak to her. 

“I hope you feel Ada suits you,” she said as she moved to chip at the sculpture’s neck. “I suppose you couldn’t very well tell me if you disagreed.” 

Ada’s soft amused smile seemed to be brighter but Hecate knew that was nonsense. She was only a sculpture. Hecate shook her head. “While I do appreciate the quiet, a bit of conversation never goes amiss.” She wiped at Ada’s chin and considered it a moment. She shook her head. It was much too angular. She started to chip away at it and produced a much rounder edge. Her arms ached as she finished and she offered a tender wipe to the sculpture. 

She stretched and went to fetch food. She was glad no one was about to see her carry her lunch back into the studio across from her sculpture. “I don’t suppose you might cook? I can never manage much and it would be nice to have something more impressive than fruits, cheese, nuts, and the occasional fish.”

Hecate sighed and hoped the next few weeks would fly by. Dimity wouldn’t be about for another month and Indigo was still a six week journey away. 

“Perhaps I am lonely,” she said as she took a bite of bread. “But you would be too out here. I have never particularly been known for my wit or conversational skills. I am as surprised as anyone that I’ve managed the people I’ve got but they all leave. I wonder if it’s me. There is a limit, I think, to how much others can put up with me until they have gone off me completely.” 

Hecate took a sip of wine and looked up at Ada. She didn’t know if it was a trick of the light or her own pathetic longing but there appeared to be a flash of tender empathy in Ada’s eyes. 

* * *

It wasn’t until she’d reached Ada’s hips that the woman appeared again in her dreams. This time she sat in Hecate’s garden with a crown of violets atop her head and a lavender bundle across her lap. 

She smiled as Hecate approached. “You’re doing such a fine job.”

Hecate couldn’t help but return her smile with one of her own. “Thank you.”

She held up the lavender bundle. “I hope you find these acceptable.”

Hecate tilted her head as she sat down and accepted the bundle. “They’re lovely.”

She adjusted her spectacles. “It must be hard to work so hard and have no one to share everything with.”

Somehow this woman seemed to know Hecate’s deepest longings without Hecate having to speak them. Hecate hummed in agreement. 

The woman took Hecate’s hand and squeezed it. “Don’t forget to ask for what you want, Hecate.”

Before Hecate could ask what she meant, her dream slipped from her again.

* * *

Dimity paid her a visit the day Hecate finished her sculpture. Dimity whistled upon seeing the finished product. “And _who_ is this?”

Hecate stretched and watched Dimity circle the statue. “Ada,” she said softly. She didn’t want to say too much, afraid she might reveal to Dimity how much she’d confided in her stone companion. 

“Who is she for?”

Hecate felt her cheeks warm as she answered, “Me.”

Dimity chuckled. “Good on you. The spectacles are an interesting touch.”

Hecate shrugged. “Azura brought them on her last visit.”

Dimity nodded. “They suit her. Now let’s eat.”

Later, Hecate lingered in her studio and watched Ada in the moonlight. 

_What is it you want?_

She didn’t jump this time as the voice was no longer one she feared but one she wished she could hear every day. She moved close to Ada and laid a hand on the curve of her waist before she leaned up to kiss her cheek. 

“I want you to be my wife.” 

* * *

Hecate awoke the next morning to clattering in her kitchen. She rolled her eyes and pulled on a robe, fully prepared to admonish Morgana for playing around when she stopped short in the doorway. A small grey haired woman with familiar curves and the most delightful singing voice Hecate had ever heard was swishing something in a pan over the fire. 

She turned to place it on the small table and smiled up at Hecate. “Oh good, you’re awake.”

Hecate's eyes widened as she recognized the very woman she had sculpted. “H-how, who, what are--”

The woman bit her lip in a familiar gesture that would be endearing if Hecate could properly think at the moment. She gently took Hecate’s arm and sat her down. “It’s a bit of a shock I imagine but I made you some breakfast to help.” She handed her a glass of water. “It’s rather cold which should help too.”

Hecate lifted shaking hands to drink the water. She couldn’t take her eyes off the woman as she finished breakfast and sat across from Hecate with her hands in her lap. 

Hecate took a deep breath. “W-who are you?”

The woman adjusted her spectacles. “It’s me, Ada.”

Hecate blinked owlishly. “A-Ada? But you, you’re a--”

“You asked for me,” she said softly. 

Hecate stood up quickly and ran to her studio. She gasped as she saw that the only thing left from her sculpture was a small stone slab that Ada once stood on. Hecate looked from Ada to the slab and back again a few times. 

“It’s-It’s not possible, you can’t have--”

“Aphrodite sends her well wishes. She says that she’s sorry you felt abandoned but sometimes heartache is necessary before you find love,” offered Ada. Her eyes were gentle and understanding but Hecate hardly took in her words. 

“You’re not real,” said Hecate. She started to pinch herself and hoped to will herself to wake up from whatever ridiculous fantasy her longing had produced. 

“Stop,” said Ada gently. She reached out for Hecate's hand and placed it on her cheek. “I am real. Can’t you feel it?”

Ada’s cheek was warm and soft under Hecate’s hand. She leaned into Hecate’s touch as Hecate traced Ada’s face with her fingertips. 

Hecate pulled her hand away. “I’m still dreaming, it’s not--”

“Why don’t I go and feed Morgana? When you’ve had time to think, I’ll meet you in the garden?”

Hecate nodded slowly while Ada left her in the studio with her confusion. 

* * *

Hecate didn’t know how long she stood in the studio but when her mind stopped playing a loop of _this can’t be possible_ , she stepped into the kitchen to eat the food Ada prepared and sorted her thoughts. 

She realized a blessing from Aphrodite was the only possible explanation and she knew the consequences of refusing a gift from a goddess. Still, she had no idea what she should do with a statue come to life. She took a deep breath and pulled a shawl from the doorway before she made her way into the garden.

Ada sat among a collection of wildflowers with her head tilted toward the sun. She wore a soft blush dress with golden bracelets around her wrists and a necklace around her neck. Hecate also spotted a gold band on her finger. 

_I want you to be my wife._

Hecate bit her lip. If it was truly the same Ada as her statue, she had heard Hecate’s wish. 

“Good afternoon,” greeted Ada. 

Hecate shook her head and sat primly across from Ada. “Good afternoon,” she said slowly. 

Ada tilted her head. “Feeling any better?”

Hecate nodded. “Thank you for breakfast.”

Ada smiled. “I hope you liked it. I did my best. I’m not well versed in cooking but I’m open to learning.”

“How does this work?”

Ada clasped her hands in her lap. “Well, you asked for me to be your wife so I suppose it works like any marriage, we’ll divide our duties and--”

“I can’t ask that of you,” whispered Hecate. 

Ada furrowed her brow. “Why not?”

Hecate shook her head. “I made you. It’s not as if you exist separate from that and it’s terribly selfish of me to just ask you to adhere to my ever wish because I was lonely and I--”

“What do you think I am, Hecate?”

Hecate gestured toward her studio. “A statue I made that somehow became a real woman and I’m still baffled as to how but I know I made you. Because of that, you have no will of your own.”

Ada lifted herself up to sit on her haunches. “You didn’t create me, Hecate,” she began slowly. “You called for me. Do you remember when I asked if you were disappointed in me?”

Hecate nodded slowly. “I had no idea what you meant.” She paused. “Wait, those dreams were real?”

Ada nodded slowly. “I had already counted you among those worthy of a blessing and when Aphrodite suggested I might come back instead of picking another human, I jumped at the chance. But I… I didn’t want you to feel as if you were obligated so I thought I’d give you the chance to know me first. I sent Indigo my story and Azura my spectacles.”

Hecate blinked slowly. “The voice and the dreams? They were all you.”

“Yes,” replied Ada. “You could have said no at any time. You still can actually. If you don’t find me agreeable, I’ll just go back to the clouds.” She looked up at the sky. “And despite what you think, I won’t cater to your every whim.” She smiled. “But I will endeavor to make you happy.”

Hecate’s heart raced at Ada’s words. There was no way that everything she ever wanted was truly being laid at Hecate’s feet. 

“I think we could be happy together, Hecate. The question is, do you?”

Hecate shifted as she considered Ada’s question. She moved forward and reached for Ada’s hand. The grip was so familiar to her now as well as the calm that washed over her. The only new sensation was how much more present it felt. 

She offered Ada a small smile. “Perhaps.”


End file.
